Yes, a Kansas condominium association can lien your unit over unpaid common expenses and eventually foreclose, even if your mortgage is current. K.S.A. § 58-3123(a) gives the association of apartment owners a lien for unpaid assessments that ranks ahead of every other claim on your unit except two: tax liens in favor of an assessing unit or special district, and whatever remains unpaid on a first mortgage of record. That priority rule matters: if your original purchase mortgage is on file, it still generally outranks the association's lien, but the lien beats a second mortgage, a home equity line, or anything else recorded later.
The process itself carries a real procedural protection many owners don't expect: the statute says the lien 'may be foreclosed by suit... in like manner as a mortgage of real property.' A Kansas condo association has to go to court and win a judicial foreclosure; it cannot run a private power-of-sale foreclosure the way a deed-of-trust lender sometimes can. During that suit, if the bylaws provide for it, you can be required to pay a reasonable rental for your unit while the case is pending, and the association can ask the court to appoint a receiver to collect it; the board can also bid on your unit at the resulting foreclosure sale unless your declaration says otherwise.
Kansas's owner-rights act is quiet on HOA-side liens, and that cuts both ways
Here's the honest gap. The Kansas Uniform Common Interest Owners' Bill of Rights Act, the newer statute governing most non-condo associations, doesn't include a section spelling out an association's lien-and-foreclosure power the way the older condo act does in § 58-3123. What the act does give lot-owner associations, in § 58-4608(a)(6), is the narrower power to suspend a delinquent owner's rights or privileges, not a lien or foreclosure remedy of its own. If your association is threatening to lien or foreclose your lot over unpaid dues, that authority has to trace back to your recorded declaration and Kansas's general real-property lien law, not to a specific numbered right handed to the board by this act. Read your declaration's assessment and lien article closely before assuming the board has a statutory shortcut it doesn't.
One more protection worth knowing if you're buying or selling a Kansas condo unit: K.S.A. § 58-3124 makes a buyer jointly and severally liable with the seller for unpaid common expenses accrued before the sale, but it also entitles that buyer to a written statement from the board of exactly what's owed, and caps the buyer's liability, and the lien against the unit, at whatever amount that statement discloses. Get that statement before you close.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
K.S.A. § 58-3123
Gives a condo association a lien for unpaid common expenses, ranks it behind only tax liens and a recorded first mortgage, and requires foreclosure by suit, like a mortgage, not a private sale.
K.S.A. § 58-3109
Confirms liens attach only to the individual apartment and its share of the common areas, and lets an owner remove their unit from a shared lien by paying its fractional share.
K.S.A. § 58-3124
Makes a buyer jointly liable for a seller's unpaid common expenses, but caps that liability at the amount disclosed in a written statement from the board.
K.S.A. § 58-4608(a)(6)
The tool the newer owner-rights act actually gives non-condo associations over unpaid assessments: suspending privileges, not a dedicated lien-and-foreclosure statute.
Step by step
How to respond to a Kansas condo or HOA lien or foreclosure notice
Steps to take when a Kansas association threatens or files a lien over unpaid assessments.
- 01
Identify which authority the association is relying on
For a condo, ask which section of the declaration and K.S.A. § 58-3123 the lien is based on. For an HOA lot, ask the board to point to the specific declaration language, since the newer owner-rights act doesn't hand it a separate lien statute.
- 02
Get an itemized statement of account
Request a full written breakdown of what's owed: true common expenses, late fees, and any costs added. Kansas's buyer-liability rule in § 58-3124 already shows the state treats an accurate written statement as the controlling number.
- 03
Check the lien's priority against your mortgage
Confirm whether your first mortgage was already filed of record before the association recorded its lien. Under § 58-3123, a recorded first mortgage and tax liens outrank the association's claim; anything recorded after the lien does not.
- 04
Remember it has to go through court
A Kansas condo association forecloses its lien 'in like manner as a mortgage,' meaning by suit. You get formal notice and a chance to respond in court, not a private sale sprung on you with no process.
- 05
Get counsel before a court date is set
Foreclosure of your home is not the place to represent yourself to the finish. Talk to a licensed Kansas attorney while the case is still in its early stages, especially if the itemized amount looks padded or wrong.
Straight answers
Common questions
Can a Kansas condo association foreclose on my unit over unpaid dues?
Yes. K.S.A. § 58-3123 gives the association a lien for unpaid common expenses and lets it foreclose that lien by suit, in the same manner as a mortgage, even if your actual mortgage is current.
Does the association's lien beat my mortgage?
Generally not your first mortgage, if it was filed of record before the association recorded its lien. Section 58-3123 ranks the lien behind only tax liens and a recorded first mortgage; anything recorded after the association's lien ranks behind it instead.
Can they foreclose without going to court?
No, not under § 58-3123. A Kansas condo association's lien is foreclosed by suit, 'in like manner as a mortgage of real property,' a judicial process, not a private power-of-sale foreclosure.
I own a lot in an HOA, not a condo. Does the same lien statute apply to me?
Not the same one. K.S.A. § 58-3123 is part of the condo-specific Apartment Ownership Act. The newer Bill of Rights Act that covers most HOAs doesn't include an equivalent lien-and-foreclosure section, so that power, if your association has it, comes from your declaration rather than this statute.
I'm buying a condo unit, am I on the hook for the seller's unpaid dues?
Possibly, but it's capped. K.S.A. § 58-3124 makes a buyer jointly liable with the seller for unpaid common expenses up to the sale, but entitles the buyer to a written statement of the amount owed and limits liability to whatever that statement says.